Location: WSCAH is located at 263 West 86th Street, in the basement of the Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew (Between West End Avenue and Broadway)

Doing Good Together/NY has received a generous grant from GenerationOn. We will be sponsoring a fun and meaningful service event for Family Volunteer Day, in conjunction with West Side Campaign Against Hunger (WSCAH). Families are welcome to visit WSCAH to learn more about their supermarket-style food pantry. All participating families are asked to bring a frozen turkey to donate to The Thousand Turkey Challenge (or donate $18, the price of one turkey). Please note: There is a Gristedes market next door to WSCAH so you can purchase your turkey on your way to the event. A representative of WSCAH will speak to our group and provide tours of the pantry. We will have service-focused crafts projects for the children (Thanksgiving cards for WSCAH clients and no-sew fleece blankets), snacks and other surprises. We will also be creating toiletry kits for food pantry clients. Please consider bringing any travel-sized toiletry items you may have at home, or purchase some for donation to this project. Please note: if you cannot attend the family volunteer day event on November 22, please consider donating a frozen turkey to WSCAH for the Thousand Turkey Challenge. Turkeys can be delivered to WSCAH the following dates and times:

The NY Common Pantry provides over 2,000 complete Thanksgiving meals each year. Consider organizing your own drive to help the Pantry collect food to be distributed to low-income New York families to ensure that everyone who relies on the NY Common Pantry will have the food that they need to have a festive and memorable holiday.

How to Plan a Food Drive:

Choose collection sites that are both highly visible and secure, and promote to neighbors and friends. Items to be collected include:

Canned cranberry sauce

Rice

Gravy

Corn Bread Mix

Stuffing Mix

18 oz Oatmeal containers

Cake/Brownie Mix

Frosting

Pasta

Canned Beans

Dry Beans

PLEASE NO GLASS JARS!

Ages: Everyone can participate

Time Commitment: Varies

Contact: Call Jen Winter at 917.720.9710 or email her at jwinter@nycommonpantry.org to arrange a pick-up. www.nycommonpantry.org

Location: God's Love We Deliver has ten meal distribution centers to choose from throughout the five boroughs where you will pick up the food packages for delivery.

There's no better place to spend Thanksgiving Day than at God's Love We Deliver. Preparing and delivering thousands of meals requires the help of many volunteers to distribute Thanksgiving feasts to clients, their families and guests. Volunteers will pick up Thanksgiving meals from a meal distribution center and deliver them directly to clients' households. Each car will make an estimated 4-5 deliveries.YOU MUST USE YOUR OWN VEHICLE to make the deliveries. Only ONE person per vehicle should sign up as the driver at this time. Passengers will be registered later.:

Ages: Drivers must have a valid drivers' license. Passengers can be all ages.

Date/Time: Saturday, November 22, shifts begin at 8:30 am. The meal will take place from 11am-2pm.

Location: Manhattan Church of Christ, 48 East 80th Street, New York

On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, the Manhattan Church of Christ opens its doors to serve a traditional Thanksgiving meal to the homeless. All shifts are family-friendly, and involve a set-up team to set tables and decorate, a service team to run trays of food back and forth to the guests, and a breakdown and clean up team.

On November 1st, the piles of leftover Halloween candy at your house may be overwhelming. Consider having your children keep a few of their favorites, and donate the rest to a very good cause. Through Operation Gratitude's Halloween Candy Buy-Back program, local dentists promise to "buy back" leftover Halloween candy with prizes, toothbrushes, coupons, etc. Search their website by zip code for participating local dental practices. The candy is donated to Operation Gratitude, a non-profit that sends over 100,000 care packages annually to service members stationed in hostile regions, to their children left behind, and to veterans. Their mission is simple: to put a smile on soldiers' faces and to show the appreciation and support of the American people. If you cannot find a local dentist who is participating in the Halloween Buy-Back program, Operation Gratitude will accept donations of unopened packages directly. The Operation Gratitude website provides important packaging and shipping information. Consider asking your children to write a letter or draw a picture to include with your donation, as Operation Gratitude strives to include these personal notes in every care package they send.

Date/Time: Tuesday, November 25. There are several shifts, beginning at 6am

Location: Pier 60/Chelsea Piers, 23rd Street and West Side Highway

FeedingNYC is a grass roots organization that relies on the generosity of volunteers to help provide Thanksgiving dinners to thousands of families in need throughout New York City. Benefitting the Dream Big Foundation, FeedingNYC has delivered over 43,000 complete Thanksgiving meals to sheltered families for 13 years. You may sign up to join over 400 volunteers to pack and deliver thousands of Thanksgiving meals to local families and shelters.

Ages: Everyone can participate. All participants under 18 must be accompanied by an adult and have a signed waiver.

Work together as a family to help keep Central Park green. Activities include spreading mulch, raking leaves and doing other important jobs in the Park. Environmental educators lead all sessions. Space is limited and advance registration is required.

Ages: Families with children age five and over; maximum of 3 children per parent/guardian

The Race to Deliver is one of GLWD's largest annual fundraisers. It is a 4 mile run/walk in Central Park, followed by multiple-distance Kids' Races. The race is a symbol of the daily race to ensure that no person ever has to face the unthinkable combination of illness and hunger. The goal for this year is funding for 40,000 meals, and $10 = one meal. You may sign up for the races, join a team, sponsor a runner or sponsor a team, all through their website.

Location: Donation sites are located across the city, in Police Stations, at major transportation terminals and at participating merchants. Check the New York Cares website for details on drop-off locations. The New York Cares Warehouse is located at 157 West 31st Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues

It is never too early to start collecting coats for the New York Cares Coat Drive. As the weather begins to get colder, New York Cares starts to distribute coats to Community Partners. You may donate gently used coats at any one of the public donation sites, or you may start your own family coat drive. All coats need to be delivered to the New York Cares warehouse located in midtown. Recipients of the coats include churches, schools and shelters, all of which serve New York's most in-need populations. Adult and child-sized coats are welcomed.

Gobble Gobble Give is a volunteer-run organization that collects "pot-luck" dishes, along with toiletry items and blankets, and delivers a hot meal and care package to the homeless around the city on Thanksgiving Day. There are a variety of volunteer positions, starting as early as 7:30am, with most volunteers arriving at 10:30am. All work is completed by 1pm so that volunteers can go home and enjoy the holiday with family. Pre-registration is not required, however volunteer spots fill up quickly, so arrive early!

Ages: All ages are welcome to volunteer; children must be accompanied by an adult

Volunteers will participate in forest restoration, helping with native tree, shrub and understory plantings as well as trail restoration and invasive plant removal. All work will be outdoors so please dress appropriately for the weather conditions.

Location: Order online. Your young recipient can enjoy the Big-Hearted Book Club right at home every month.

Have kids on your gift-giving list? Looking for something you feel GOOD about giving? ALL the proceeds help DGT™ continue to serve children and families. In addition, the gifts themselves teach children about the joy of doing for others. Most important of all, though, children will LOVE this fabulous book club! Each month your recipient will receive one high-quality children's book, along with a kindness activity, fun stickers and an original recipe. Turn family night into a book-centered kindness practice! Choose between a one-month, three-month, six-month or full-year subscription. (You can decide which month your subscription will begin.) Learn more and subscribe at our DGT Store.

As the weather grows colder, why not share something snuggly with those in need. Project Linus provides homemade blankets to children in need. Our blankets are lovingly made by adults and children from all walks of life. Volunteer blanket makers help provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans. You and your family can make easy, no sew blankets to donate to children in need. Click for blanket making instructions.

When calling to volunteer for any of the opportunities listed above, please let the coordinator know you found it through this listing. You are encouraged to ask any questions you may have of the sponsoring organization before committing to a project.Disclaimer: This list is provided as a service to families. Inclusion of organizations in this listing does not imply affiliation, endorsement or quality assurance on the part of Doing Good Together.™ Doing Good Together™ bears no responsibility whatsoever for the activities and actions of the listed organizations.